Defining a PR Crisis
Eric Yaverbaum (MD LIME public relations & promotions) define a crisis as an event, rumor, or story that has the potential to affect your reputation, image, or credibility in a negative way. Examples include everything from service tampering (remember Tylenol?) and contamination to alleged discrimination or lawsuits (Wal-Mart is a recent example of the latter). The stock market once dipped on a false rumor that former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, had been killed in a car accident. Most small businesses think that “crisis PR” is the concern of only Fortune 500 companies. But a crisis can strike any organization at any time. For your business, potential crisis situations may include the following:
- Public health issues (for example, a toxic spill or a cancer-causing product)
- Safety and security issues
- Financial and business issues
- Environmental issues
- Disasters (product tampering, service outages)
- Business practices and ethics
- Worker misconduct
- Legal issues
- Accidents and disasters (driver accidents, crashes, fires, building collapses)
- False advertising
- Customer complaints
- Out-of-stock products
If you think that your tiny business, out of the public eye, is invulnerable to a crisis, you’re wrong. Smaller businesses, which often rely on one or two key customers, can lose that business at the drop of a hat. For this reason, I advocate planning for any possible crisis that could occur.
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